[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----N.C., MO., KY.

[Rick Halperin]

May 17



NORTH CAROLINA:

State Seeks Death Penalty in 2004 Murder


Jose Miquel Ventura will face the possibility of the death penalty, a
Moore County Superior judge has ruled.

Ventura is charged with 1st-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous
weapon for the December 2004 death of Keith Ellis.

At a recent hearing in Moore County Civil Court before Judge Lindsay
Davis, the state put on evidence to show Ellis had been beaten with a
brick, was incapacitated from the beating, and then his neck cut from
behind. Testimony from a medical examiner indicated he was virtually
decapitated. The state contends this was heinous, atrocious and cruel.

Ventura's attorneys have filed documents with the court indicating a
defense that could include self-defense, intoxication, and diminished
capacity.

Defense attorneys Arthur Donadio and Bruce Cunningham had requested a
pre-trial hearing to determine whether or not sufficient evidence of
aggravating factors existed to warrant the death penalty.

In North Carolina, the penalty for first-degree murder is life in prison
without possibility of parole, or death.

Murder committed during the course of certain felonies can call for such a
punishment phase under what is known as the "felony murder rule." Defense
attorneys have challenged the constitutionality of this rule, but courts
have upheld it.

District Attorney Maureen Krueger had requested a trial date of Monday,
May 12, but at a pretrial hearing last month, defense attorneys requested
a continuance because of scheduling conflicts.

Cunningham is handling a capital murder trial in another county later this
summer. The defense request for a continuance was granted, and trial was
set at that hearing to begin in February 2009.

Davis also ordered the state to file another bill of particulars
specifying what theory of 1st-degree murder the state will show at trial.

Krueger and Assistant District Attorney Peter Strickland had filed a Bill
of Particulars enumerating some of the aggravating factors the state
contends would justify imposition of the death penalty if found by the
jury after conviction.

Davis read a statement previously given by the defendant, but did not read
it aloud. He ruled that Krueger may pursue the death penalty against
Ventura at trial next year.

(source: Southern Pines Pilot)






MISSOURI:

Jurors decide against death penalty in racial slaying


In Kansas City, a federal jury has decided not to impose the death
sentence on the 2nd of 2 men convicted of the racially motivated murder of
a pedestrian.

The Kansas City Star reported Saturday that Steven Sandstrom, 22, will
spend life in prison with no chance of parole. Federal jurors declined to
sentence him to death, just as they had done in the case of co-defendant
Gary Eye, 21, earlier in the week.

Eye also will spend life in prison for the March 2005 death of William
McCay, who was black. Both Eye and Sandstrom are white.

"We are relieved there was no death verdict," said Charles Rogers, a
lawyer who led the effort to avoid a death sentence.

U.S. Attorney John F. Wood said justice had been served even without the
death penalty.

"As a result of the jury's verdict, the individuals who committed this
horrible crime will never be free again," Wood said in a written
statement.

The jury deliberated about two hours before coming to a verdict on
Sandstrom's sentence.

Eye was described by witnesses as the triggerman in the March 9, 2005,
killing. McCay was shot as he was walking to work in the northeast part of
the city.

According to evidence presented at the trial, Sandstrom was driving a
stolen car and had given Eye the murder weapon, a .22-caliber pistol.

The 2 were convicted under civil rights laws of violating McCay's right to
walk along a city street unmolested because of his race.

Both were convicted on charges of murder, firearms violations and witness
tampering. They also were convicted of arson and obstruction for burning
the car used in the shooting.

(source: Fort Mill Times)






KENTUCKY:

State lab's DNA testing halted in 1979 murder----Prosecutors seek new
sample


With Kentucky lab technicians just hours away from completing DNA testing
that could exonerate death row inmate Brian Keith Moore in the 1979 murder
of a Louisville man, the testing was halted at the request of state
prosecutors last week, Moore's attorney said.

Prosecutors with the state attorney general's office asked the Kentucky
State Crime Lab to stop tests on DNA evidence found on the clothing
reportedly worn by the killer in the slaying of Virgil Harris, saying a
DNA sample taken from Moore might not have been obtained properly.

David Smith, assistant attorney general, told Jefferson Circuit Judge
James Shake yesterday that an attorney for Moore collected the DNA sample
without state lab technicians or police present.

"What was done here, I don't believe was the way to go about it," said
Smith, who requested that Shake postpone the testing at least until a
proper sample can be taken. "It would not be a good idea to continue this
with a self-collection."

Prosecutors also argued that they have not been allowed to talk to the
state crime lab and are unsure if the testing can even produce reliable
results, since the DNA evidence found was limited.

David Harschaw, an attorney for Moore, told Shake he took the DNA sample
using the procedure given to him by state police.

"I did it as well as I could," he said.

Defense attorneys said the warden in the prison where Moore is housed
would not let prison nurses take the DNA sample.

Shake said he will rule quickly on whether to halt the testing until a new
DNA sample from Moore is taken.

Assistant public advocate David Barron said that the testing could be
completed "by the end of the day," once technicians are allowed to
continue.

The results, however, would have to be reviewed and wouldn't be released
officially for weeks.

Barron has said biological fluids on the clothing can't provide a complete
DNA match, but are enough to exclude someone.

Moore has claimed he was set up by another suspect in the killing. He was
sentenced to death in the kidnapping and killing of Harris, a Louisville
man who was on his way to his 77th birthday party.

In 2006, Moore became the first Kentucky death row inmate to win DNA
testing when Shake ordered an examination of multiple pieces of clothing
under a law allowing condemned inmates whose cases predate DNA technology
to ask that old evidence be tested.

Barron has said that if the DNA on the clothes doesn't match Moore, the
rest of the evidence against him is weak and suspect.

But the attorney general's office says witnesses have testified they saw
Moore in the clothes just before the killing.

(source: Courier-Journal, May 14)